RSA: Virtualization, BYOD Are Top Concerns for Security Experts

What better way to get a pulse of the security community then on the floor of the RSA 2013 Conference, currently going on in San Francisco, Calif.

That's exactly what IT firm F5 thought when it talked to more than 150 security experts wandering the exhibit floor on Tuesday.

Asked what's holding corporate IT from attaining the desired level of security, 73 percent of respondents said that new virtualization technology was a major sore spot. Not far behind the worries of virtualization was the threat of increasingly complex attacks (72 percent). And in third place, 66 percent surveyed said that BYOD issues are holding back security in their companies.

F5's survey demonstrated that acknowledging the top security threats and actually dealing with said threats typically don't go hand-in-hand. Speaking on the security quagmire that is BYOD, 35 percent of respondents said "they are not prepared to provide adequate security to protect against threats associated with BYOD."

"IT admits that these threats are beyond the scope of traditional safeguards," said a F5 spokesperson in an e-mailed response. "As such, respondents report that their general security readiness is subpar."

Among attendee respondents, cloud-based security is another hot button issue that is not being adequately addressed. While 64 percent see the move to more Web-based applications as a trend that will continue, 37 percent of those surveyed said they can't keep up with threats targeting these apps. Even more alarming is that almost half (49 percent) said their companies don't have a comprehensive security plan for dealing with threats to cloud-based infrastructures.

Here are some more noteworthy findings from F5's security-based survey:

58 percent said that cyber security bad guys are changing from the traditional spam-based hacker to those with political and corporate espionage motivations.

39 percent said the increase in app and OS patches is alarming.

39 percent said the increased amount of SPAM and malware attacks is a large concern for their organization.